For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
After Jennifer yelled, “Steve, Danger!”, she grabbed my arm while Kat grabbed Hope’s arm and we ran just a short distance from the bus stop. Jennifer and Kat pushed Hope and I to the ground and fell on top of us for protection. Just as they did this, the whole bus stop area exploded from underground. We could hear the sound of sirens approaching quickly so we decided to leave the area.
Being invisible sure does help in times like this. I still do not know how they do this invisible thing, but somehow they can make us invisible too by putting their arms around us. “You know Steve,” said Kat, “perhaps it is time for you to become a ghost too.” “Well, if you do not mind,” I said, “I would prefer to stay on this side of the grass for just a little longer.”
Jennifer giggled. “I still have that envelope,” said Hope, “and hopefully it will be what Sky needs. “Yes, I sure hope so too,” I said, “one thing is certain, this man did not plan on getting killed, so I think he could be trusted.” “Too bad we lost all that money though,” added Hope. “We did not lose anything,” I said, “it was all fake money, and the money for his account has already been retrieved.”
“Cool,” said Hope smiling. “I wonder if Mr. B is having any success with Carmen.” I said. “We should soon find out,” said Kat. Meanwhile, in a different part of town, while all this was happening to us, Mr. B was looking for Carmen. He had his men all around where he had seen her earlier today. It was another nightclub owned by Carmen, but this one focused more on gambling.
Mr. B sent in a couple men that Carmen would not know, but they knew very well what to look for and that would bring Mr. B inside, or at least some of his more trusted men, who would bring Carmen back out to Mr. B. Sure enough, they found Carmen and Mr. B sent more men in to get her. They brought her out to Mr. B, who was waiting in his car.
Two men pushed her inside the back of the car with Mr. B, then they got in too and off they went. Soon her nightclub was in flames with people running and screaming in every direction. Once in the car, Mr. B took his knife, which was extremely sharp, and cut off Carmen’s long, dark hair. It was down to her waist, always had been, since we were kids.
“Just want to make sure it is you this time Carmen,” he said, “there seems to be a lot of you walking around these days.” “Yes, and they have been doing their job just fine,” she said smiling, “you know, we should get back together again, we would make an unstoppable team now.” “Sorry Carmen, but you are now stopped, for good!” he said, “Take her to that old sawmill and make sure she stays there.”
“Right Mr. B,” said Lewis. He and some other men took Carmen and left. Mr. B then called me to let me know Carmen would no longer be a problem to us. I wanted to believe him, but I know Carmen, if there is a way to escape, she will find it. But I sincerely hope he is right this time. We do need a break for a while. We were already on our way back home when Mr. B called me.
Everyone in the car heard the conversation. “I sense danger Steve,” said Jennifer, “but it is far away.” But he also told me not to use the antidote given, all it will do is cause extreme pain to Sky. I kind of thought this was all too simple. But perhaps Carmen was lying just so we would not use the antidote. I was going to have it checked anyway, just to make sure.
I will give some to Mr. B so his man can check it out too. We will be very cautious with this. It felt good to be back home again, now we can work towards getting back to normal. If there is such a thing for us. We were hit hard on this case, but I think we can close it now. Still a few things to do, like getting Sky and the others out of the clinic. And perhaps getting me back on the team.
Hope proved herself and now wants to join the team. Her and Harvey are now engaged too, as are Miles and Brook. But, before any weddings comes a funeral for Agata. Aoife is getting counseling for emotional trauma from when she was part of the original group of girls that were kidnapped. It was her part in Carmen’s photo studio that lead to the emotional trauma though, she is having a hard time dealing with what she had to do. We need a good rest before the next case, I wonder if we will get it?
The End. But a new case will be coming soon.
Β©2024 Steve McLeod.
There certainly was much drama in this chapter. Carmen doesnβt seem to want to do things simply but must have much drama. Glad she was caught but is she really dead? The antidote will have to be tested and hopefully it will help Sky. So good Jennifer and Kat could make you and Hope invisible. A very good defense to use. The funeral for Agata is sad and I trust the four get to have their weddings without violence or interruption. Trust everyone recovers quickly and you can be put on the team. Rock and Baldwin are recovering so there has to be another team leader.
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Carmen likes attention and wants to do things in a big way. Hopefully Mr. B’s men carried out orders and killed Carmen, but I wonder if that was the case. I guess we will find out at some point. Even if she did get away, she is at rock bottom and it will take her time to rebuild. Our Mr. B managed to get the money frozen that we paid to her and it will be returned so Carmen will not get any of that. Yes, Kat and Jennifer have some wonderful abilities. Kat is an amazing inventor and I am sure we will see more of that coming up. Kristina is team leader 3, so she automatically assumes control of The Investigators. Sky, Matt and Aari are also team leaders, but only on a smaller scale though they could be voted in as team leader if necessary. I think we need to change our leader structure just a bit. A leader should not be dismissed except by a vote of the whole team. And assessments from Dr. Kerstina and Galyna need to be made available to the whole team prior to any such vote. Yes, another funeral for us, but then 2 weddings. Hope and Harvey will be full members, Miles already is and Brook will go into training to join us. Remember Kitty? She also wishes to join, as a secretary to start but she will be going through full training too. I hope we all get to full recovery before the next case, but…π€π©ππ΅οΈββοΈ
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Yes, I doubt Carmen is dead, she will return. Glad Baldwin was able to freeze some of the funds paid Carmen as she should not benefit from kidnapping. Yes the rules for ousting leaders and from being team members must be changed. Trust the weddings can take place before a new case happens. Good you are gaining new team members to help. Trust there is time to recover before the new case but somehow, I doubt it will happen.
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Yes, some of our enemies seem hard to get rid of, like Toledo who kept coming back all the time. At least she won’t have all that money to help her start over, that should slow her down a bit, if she does live. Yes, we need time for recovery. Annelie was hurt seriously and we need her. She did train Sky and Tracy to take over her job so now it falls on Tracy. Two others are in training for that but Annelie is needed to introduce them to her contacts. Now with Kristina as leader we can get some changes done before Baldwin can grumble!π€π©πΊπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Baldwin is not in a position to grumble due to his serious health issues!
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So true, but with Baldwin I think that grumbling is his hobby! Today begins a new case for us, perhaps typical, perhaps not.π€π΅οΈββοΈ
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Have to read the start of your new case.
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Agata’s death choked me up, but it makes my heart happy that she had two very loving parents and a big family that loved her so very much at the end π
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Thanks for the comment Ami! So nice to see you back again! I’ll be honest, it was hard to write about that one. But she did have things good in the end with us, just too short. Oddly enough, the hardest chapter for me to write about was the death of MC, since he was a real cat like Muffin and not just a fictional character. And he died in real life. Hope you are enjoying the stories Ami.ππ©πΌπ»π¦π΅οΈββοΈ
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